I'm hoping someone has a suggestion for me on this; I'm referring to the 6 elongated drain plugs (4 in front, 2 in back foot wells). It looks like they are glued in and painted over; my concern is that if I try to cut around them I'm goign to wind up doing more damage, or even with a clean cut I'm concerned about the edge paint peeling up over time.

There is one in each footwell in the front yes - but if you take a look at the steel floor of the jeep (both front adn back) you'll see water channels - like small gutters - that run directly to 6 elongated drain plugs. these drain plugs are sunken slightly to draw water down and out of the interior, but are glued down and painted over. I've heard of people removing them - which seems like it would drain better - but had concerns about paint chipping and peeling.

There should be a total of 6 metal plugs in the floor. They are suposed to be sealed and then painted over from the factory. They are removeable from the bottom(underside of the Jeep). There are also rubber plugs that are removeable for water drains. You can remove all of them if you want to but the rubber ones aren't going to chip the paint like removing the painted in metal plugs. I would think that this would lead to more rust issues ( I live in the midwest). Your call.

well you should try to remove then via telakenisis, it is much safer, because you will not chip your paint. also in 10 years you wont have to worry about the paint wearing because all the water you let sit in your jeep will have rotten and rusted out the tub so bad that it just wont matter.

after that strip naked and run around the neighborhood chanting tribal songs.

If all else fails you can always just tie some cinder blocks to your feet and take a long walk off a short peir.

Or

Grab a flat head and a hammer (and your balls) and show those drain plugs whose boss, after all they are just PLUGS that were MENT to be removed, I mean how hard can it realy be... its not like a mentally retarted 5 year old can figure it out or anything_________________Fabricator for hire.... contact me for info

I'm afraid that telekinesis failed to do the trick, so I just used a carpet knife instead. Running around naked did little to move the plugs, but I did get a few dates out fo the deal. As for involving my balls and a hammer, I decided to wait and use them for the lift-kit job next week.